BabyPooh, I tried a OEM from dell and XP wouldn't acknowledge it. Don't know if it would recognize a gateway OEM. It's a long story about the $50 XP PRO. Legal, Lets just say I jumped on it.

Thanks WOM! I think I better just go with the full version and be done with it. I don't want to take any chances and be out the money.

No problem. Go with the XP HOME, cheaper.

I find nothing wrong with XP home.

I recomend staying up on all the updates.

After looking at the link that Larry provided (thanks Larry ), I don't really need Pro. I don't do any networking or anything like that. All I do is surf the web and spend a lot of time customizing my comp, so I guess XP home it is! It'll Save me my hard earned money anyway.

Have one more question though. Is XP Home as secure as Pro? I like the fact that I can lock people out of my comp with W2K . Can you do that with Home?

Thanks so much yall!

Oh and to sig101, I downloaded and ran the compatibility tool you were telling me about and everything came out okay. So I'm ready to upgrade!

Thanks for letting me know!

Yes

you can lock people out

Awesome!!

Thanks, Iben!

well... I guess if if all your doing is surfing and costomizing then get the Home version of XP. I would follow the advice of previous posts and keep track of updates (whether it is Pro or Home).

I guess I would be what is called a "power user" so I tend to go toward stuff with a little more options biult in. Pro has that. Also keep in mind that this is a purchase that you will keep for a little more than 2 years. You might just want to use some of those features in Pro.

Even with all that said, it still looks like you should get XP Home. It is probably the better option for you.

I find that XP Pro runs faster on my computer than home did.

Jam, you don't need to reinstall ME. You just need to insert your ME disk during a clean setup when you are asked.

AFAIK, you can show it Win2k, ME or 98SE to make it install with an upgrade disk.

I use Home at home and Pro at work. There is more "security" in Pro, but most people are already running some sort of rudimentary firewall, so it's not much of an issue. Home does not have the same recovery features in it, but I have yet to have needed any. (XP is pretty stable). As far as remote desktop is concerned, you can remote desktop "out" from home but you can not remote desktop "in" like you can on Pro. For what you do with your PC, it sounds like you only need Home edition. Both are built on the same technology. Pro just has more added features.

You can get an OEM of Home from: http://www.softwaremedia.com/ms-wxphoem.html For $90

Or Pro OEM: http://www.softwaremedia.com/ms-wxphoem.html For $140

Sir JamMeister33, You don't actually have to Install ME to update. All you need is the CD of ME. When you do either an upgrade (best to do clean install) or a clean install. When it comes time for WinXP Home or Pro to check if you in fact have the earlier OS (be it ME or Win2K)it just asks for you to insert the disk into the CD Drive. I know for a fact because I have done many install on my pc learning how to partition and whatever.
Also for myself, I prefer WinXP Pro primarly for the ability to use "Remote Desktop" which WinXP Home does not have.

Yeah. I tried to tell him that!

you guys need to start going to computer shows... home OEM is $63 and pro $120 for the oem versions... if you live in So. CA those prices are from the the show in Pamona